CHAMARAJANAGAR: BY Vijayendra, son of BJP state president B S Yeddyurappa, left Mysuru in a huff after the party’s top leadership denied him the ticket to contest from Varuna in the upcoming Assembly polls. Though the party’s action resulted in an alleged suicide, protests and a NOTA campaign, it did not relent. On the contrary, BJP convinced the star son to launch its poll campaign in Chamarajanagar district, which he did on Saturday. Family pressure also played a role in him heeding to the party diktat, said a source.
Vijayendra claims to carry a lot of clout among the Veerashaivas and youth in general. Chamarajanagar, is a stronghold of the Congress, for it has sitting MLAs in all four Assembly segments here.With an aim to change that and bring about a strong emergence of the party in Chief Minister Siddaramaiah’s native Chamarajanagar and Mysuru districts, Vijayendra started the campaign from Allur in Kollegal taluk. He was received by a large gathering and the bursting of crackers. Party workers shouted slogans and took him around in a procession. The BJP that has kept a low profile in the district after losing to the Congress in Gundlupet and Nanjangud bypolls, used his presence to make a strong impact.
Playing his part to perfection, Vijayendra reached out to elders, women and the youth of Umtahur, Santhemarahalli, Hannur, Uthamaballi, Kesthur, Agara and some other villages. He was welcomed with garlands and slogan rendering in the Lingayat-dominated villages.Vijayendra came back to the area after BJP candidates requested him to campaign after some Lingayat youth took up a negative campaign against the party on social media. With the fear that the smearing campaign may affect their prospects in the polls, the candidates approached the party leaders and prevailed upon them the need for a high-profile campaigner. “We wanted to send out a strong message that Veerashaivas are still with the BJP,” a party worker told The New Indian Express. Vijayendra also visited Kunthur Veerashiava mutt along with Kollegal BJP candidate
G N Nanjundaswamy and sought the blessing of its seer. He surprised everyone by calling on senior RSS and BJP leaders in Kollegal, as also Veerashaiva leaders in a few villages to seek their blessings.Addressing presspersons, Vijayendra clarified that he was not pained by the party’s decision to deny him a ticket. He said his larger aim is to bring BJP back to power in the state, and see that “Yeddyurappa gives the best possible governance in the next five years”.Thanking the party for shouldering major responsibility of campaign, he said people are upset with Congress and have made up their minds to vote for BJP.